


i think you understand me (in a way few else do)

by PilotInTheStars



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hope tolerates Scott's dad music, Kinda, Kisses, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Understanding, introspective, quite a few
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26981890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotInTheStars/pseuds/PilotInTheStars
Summary: The sun was setting over San Francisco, painting everything in a sleepy glow. And it was evenings like this that could get to you. The “what if” evenings. The evenings where you questioned it all.Scott recognized the look on Hope’s face well.It was common, everyone had them, whether they had been snapped or not.---A quiet evening shared by Scott and Hope dealing with the aftermath of everything. Plus, a healthy dose of fluff.
Relationships: Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	i think you understand me (in a way few else do)

**Author's Note:**

> I really really really love Scott and Hope. 
> 
> Thank you to @sharknana29 for beta-ing, and for letting me drag her into Ant-Man hell.

All things considered, it had been a nice day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the temperature couldn’t have been better. Traffic was light when they drove down to where Luis’ family restaurant was. Cassie dozed on the ride back and Hope tolerated the radio station Scott had put on, even when she said it was “dad music.”

It was their switch day, when Cassie was dropped off at Maggie and Paxton’s for the week. Hope pulled the car up to their house and Scott reached back to gently tap Cassie on the knee. 

“Hey Peanut, you fell asleep.”

Cassie sat up and blinked. “Oh.” Scott popped the trunk and Hope swapped seats with Scott, their deal on longer car trips. Cassie grabbed the bag she brought between houses as Maggie opened the front door. She gave a wave to them.

“You’ll be at my soccer game on Thursday?” Cassie asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

Cassie beamed and started to head up the steps and then turned. “Bye Dad! Bye Hope!”

They both waved farewell as Cassie went up the steps to where Maggie stood. 

Even after months of routine, it still felt strange, to do something as spend a day out as a family, and then drop Cassie off at Maggie and Paxton’s. It was odd to be able to plan to go to one of his daughter’s soccer games after school, Hope no longer on the run and able to go as well. It was odd to have a stable week of work with X-Con. It was… a normal life. 

“You haven’t complained about the radio station once,” Scott said, mildly surprised. 

Hope looked up. “I’ve learned to tolerate the dad music.”

There was a smile playing at the corner of her lips, but it faded away quickly. 

The sun was setting over San Francisco, painting everything in a sleepy glow. And it was evenings like this that could get to you. The “what if” evenings. The evenings where you questioned it all. 

Scott recognized the look on Hope’s face well.

It was common, everyone had them, whether they had been snapped or not. 

And it was a feeling too, the feeling of dread when he woke up at night and feared that when he rolled over, no one would be there, Hope would still be gone and dusted. It was in the dreams where he was still stuck in the quantum realm, never to see his daughter again, and he himself crumbling away until he was unrecognizable. 

_This could be a dream now._

But it wasn’t. He was sure of that.

He had learned to tell the difference between reality and dreaming those past few months. Scott dreamed more than he ever did before, after multiple trips to the quantum realm and everything that had happened. It was easy now. 

When he stood on the turf watching Cassie’s evening soccer games, he could feel the wind in the air, the grass underneath the soles of his shoes. He could feel the keyboard under his fingers in the X-Con Security office. And Hope… she always smiled a bit brighter in reality. 

Late at night back at the Avengers Compound, he would try to remember all the little details, scared he would forget them all. 

When Hope was thinking intently she would sometimes click the top of her pen, staring out the window. She hated wearing socks to bed and always lovingly questioned why in the world he did. There was a small scar near her eye where she had fallen over and hit her head on the corner of the dresser as a toddler and a scar on her hand from when she had accidentally cut her hand on a broken jar when she was a teen. And if anyone had kept track of every time Scott had gone to memorize yet again the curve of her smile, because he wanted to make sure he truly remembered it right, the count would be almost embarrassing. 

“You alright?”

Hope gave him a glance. “I’m okay. It’s just one of those days.”

She didn’t have to elaborate. They all had them, and he knew exactly what they meant. 

They got to their apartment in due time and walked up the steps to their apartment. Scott unlocked the door, they both went forward.

In the little entryway, where they kept the coat rack and some of their shoes, Scott leaned forward and kissed her, which she happily returned. In all honesty, it was something else to discern dreams from reality, and it worked when all other words failed. And above all, it said “I love you,” which sometimes meant the most on the roughest of days. 

Hope let go and pressed her forehead against his shoulder. 

“I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” 

“I’ll find something to throw in the oven.”

“Do we have anything in the fridge?”

“Probably not.”

“Ah well, we never do.”

Scott went indeed to go survey the situation. There was a frozen pizza, and that would do for a Sunday night. He set his phone on the counter, turning on the playlist he had made on his phone when he needed something nostalgic. 

Hope walked into their little kitchen, her hair damp, an old t-shirt and a pair of ratty pajama pants on. Scott had forgotten he had left his robe in their room; it was now around her shoulders. 

“Hmm, I see your choice of dad music hasn’t changed much from the car,” she said, hopping up onto the old barstool that sat in front of the breakfast counter.

Scott leaned forward and kissed her from across the counter.. “I thought you tolerated it.”

“I do.” Scott thought in that moment that he would be happy the rest of his life if she was there. 

It was nice to be there now, just the two of them.

“I liked getting back to my playlists.”

Hope gave a chuckle. “After 5 years?”

It was quiet again, both of them unsure if they had said the wrong thing. 

“I mean,” Scott said. “It’s weird. It was just 5 hours for me… but the… the weight of coming back.”

Five years had passed. The world had gone on for five years. He hadn’t been Snapped, but he could imagine what everyone else who was brought back felt. Even being in the Avengers Compound was a nightmare at times, for more reasons than one. He felt isolated from them, not just from barely knowing the rest of the superheroes, but from being someone who was gone. He didn’t have a clue what had happened, what they had all gone through as the Earth had turned. 

Scott had been sitting outside one evening on the property, trying to ground himself after a pretty terrible day, when all the worst thoughts had been going through his mind. 

_What if they couldn’t bring any of them back? What if he truly would never see Hope again?_ He was always the sunshine-y optimist, the one who looked on the bright side. But sometimes it was hard. His heart felt pretty broken most days. He was vaguely reminded of his days in prison.

If he got too far into those memories, he’d freeze up, and coming back to reality now, he was certain he had done just that, because Hope had gotten up, walking around the counter. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder. 

_I get it._

“You don’t know how glad I am to not be at the Avengers Compound anymore.”

She looked up. 

“Just got lonely. I missed Cassie, I missed _you_.” He and his daughter were on opposite sides of the country, but just being able to call her on the rough days meant a lot. He didn’t know what he’d do if his child had been Snapped. He didn’t like to think about it. 

“Then we both were pretty lonely in those five years,” she said quietly. 

Hope was never the first person to bring up herself being Snapped up.

“I dwell on the past a lot,” she had said, staring into her tea mug one late night when they both couldn’t sleep. “And I just don’t want to dwell on what I felt when I was gone. It was cold, it was lonely. I’m glad to just be out of it.” 

They had learned in their time together to be patient, and as the months went on and they faced it all together, they continued to learn just that. 

One of Hope’s hands drifted upwards so she could run a hand through his hair, and she kissed him again. And then she surprised him.

They hadn’t said it much _before_. Before Germany. Before Thanos. Scott didn’t know whether it was a matter of darting around it, or fear of saying it, or _what._ Maybe because they just knew. He wore his heart on his sleeve a lot more than she did, in some ways it was what made them work. 

It was much more common now, to say between everyone. You never wanted them to forget. 

Hope said it first that night:

“I really love you.”

Their arms around each other, holding each other close, as the soft music played in the background. 

His eyes met hers. 

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
